Browse IFS
Research topics
Publication types
Budget box
Chancellor George Osborne delivered his 2012 Budget on Wednesday 21 March. On Thursday 22 March IFS researchers presented their analysis at a lunchtime briefing. Presentations are available here on our Budget 2012 page, along with recent research and publications providing useful background to the Budget.
Observations: reflections on current events
15 May 2012
Observations
New IFS research published today demonstrates the compelling case for road pricing as part of a radical overhaul of the way in which motoring is taxed. Current taxes - excise duties on road fuel and vehicle excise duty - are unable to capture the substantial variation by time and location in the external costs associated with motoring. At the same time, official forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility suggest revenues from these current taxes are set to erode significantly in the medium-term. Road pricing would provide not only a more economically rational way of taxing motoring but also a more sustainable tax base.
Featured publications and research
February 2012
Article
As Chancellor George Osborne prepares for his keynote statement on fiscal policy and the economy the IFS Green Budget assesses some of the issues he will have to deal with.
February 2012
Article
This report looks at evidence on policies to encourage household saving. The report examines in detail what is known - and what is not known - about the effectiveness of four types of intervention designed to raise saving by households: financial incentives; education; choice architecture; and social marketing.
Recent publications & research
15 May 2012
This report looks at the options for taxing motoring, concluding that a system of road pricing or congestion charging would be preferable to the current system.
09 May 2012
This report quantifies the likely impact on the distribution of income (and in particular, measures of poverty and inequality) of projected changes in the structure...
03 May 2012
Using survey data spanning multiple house-price cycles over nearly forty years, this paper documents the association between house prices and homeownership at age thirty.
IFS on Twitter
Follow IFS on Twitter at twitter.com/theifs.

You can also subscribe to IFS feeds for news and publications.
More about IFS feeds on our news page

Events
31 May 12 - 31 May 12
Conference
18 Jun 12 - 18 Jun 12
IFS Seminar
Impact on Society
We presented our pupil premium report to an influential audience that included policymakers and groups wishing to open new schools.
Extensive research on inequality allowed us to develop an online model where users can plot their position in the income distribution.
Contact details
The Institute for Fiscal Studies
7 Ridgmount Street,
London
WC1E 7AE.      See map

tel: 020 7291 4800
fax: 020 7323 4780